The President and Fellows of Harvard College Dmytro Doroshenko: A Ukrainian Émigré Historian of the Interwar Period Author(s): THOMAS M. PRYMAK Source: Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 25, No. 1/2 (Spring 2001), pp. 31-56 Published by: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41036824 Accessed: 14-04-2015 01:02 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute and The President and Fellows of Harvard College are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Harvard Ukrainian Studies. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.42.202.150 on Tue, 14 Apr 2015 01:02:14 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DmytroDoroshenko: A UkrainianÉmigré Historian of the Interwar Period THOMAS M. PRYMAK DmytroIvano vych Doroshenko (1882-1951) was undoubtedlythe mostim- portantand prolificUkrainian émigré historian of the twentiethcentury. He madesignificant, indeed, sometimes irreplaceable contributions in thefields of biography,historiography, contemporary history, historical synthesis, bibliography,and memoirwriting, and was a majorspokesman for the new "statistschool'* of Ukrainian historiography, which stressed Ukrainian strivings forstatehood throughout the centuries. Writing during the 1920s and 1930s- thatis, ata timewhen the "Ukrainian question" was just beginning to attractthe attentionof theWestern public and thevery name "Ukraine" was little-known amongWestern scholars - Doroshenkopopularized Ukrainian history in works publishedin German,English, Czech, Polish,Russian, French, Italian, and Swedish,as well as in Ukrainian.If a completebibliography of his published workswere compiled, it would,perhaps, list close to a thousandtitles.1 Early Life Doroshenkowas borninto an old Ukrainianfamily that during the seventeenth centuryhad givenUkraine two distinguished Cossack hetmans. He was raised by his Ukrainophilefather in a patrioticspirit, and fromhis earlydays at the universitiesin Warsawand St. Petersburgparticipated in Ukrainianstudent activitiesand social and cultural life. He had a quiet,gentlemanly manner and a distastefor both personal and politicalconflicts. These characteristics,com- bined witha sinceredevotion to scholarship,made him a productiveand successfulwriter and academic.2 From 1899, Doroshenko's firstpublications appeared in the journal Literaturno-naukovyivistnyk, which was publishedin AustrianGalicia, where, HarvardUkrainian Studies XXV (1/2)2001: 31-56. This content downloaded from 128.42.202.150 on Tue, 14 Apr 2015 01:02:14 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 32 PRYMAK unlikethe Russian Empire of thetime, the Ukrainian language could be freely used in print.Most of theseearly publications were descriptions of Ukrainian culturallife in the Russian capital and elsewhere,but duringthis period Doroshenkoalso publishedtwo detailedbibliographies of materialdealing withUkrainian history, literature, and culture. The firstof these was heldup by theauthorities for several months and lost abouta thirdof its materialto the Russiancensor's red pencil.It was, nevertheless,the firstpublication of its kindin manyyears and was an indicationof Doroshenko's laterinterests in bibliographyand historiography.3 Duringthe first years of thetwentieth century, young Doroshenko' s politi- cal convictionswere somewhat contradictory. He workedwith the more cau- tiousolder generation of Ukrainian cultural activists, where his real sympathies seemedto lie, but seeminglyout of the necessityof contactwith the main- streamof his own generation,he also joined theillegal Revolutionary Ukrai- nianParty (RUP) whosesupporters were generally very young. As a member ofRUP's "NorthernCommittee" he helpedsmuggle Ukrainian-language books fromGalicia into Russia by wayof autonomousFinland.4 The revolutionof 1905-1907 forceddemocratic and nationalconcessions froma reluctantRussian imperialgovernment, and an elected Duma was granted.In Ukrainethe ban on publicationsin theUkrainian language, which had been in effectsince 1863 and strengthenedin 1876, was suspended. Doroshenkoimmediately threw himself into cultural work in thisfield, pub- lishingin journals,newspapers, and magazinesin Kyiv,St. Petersburg,and elsewhere.His contributionsto the Kyiv dailypaper Rada wereparticularly extensive. Duringthe followingyears, Doroshenko studied history under Mytrofan Dovnar-ZapolsTcyi(Mitrofan Doünar-Zaporskii) at the Universityof Kyiv, joined the moderate Society of Ukrainian Progressives (Tovarystvo UkrainsicykhPostupovtsiv, or TUP), and editedthe Ukrainian-language jour- nal ofthe newly founded Zapysky Ukraïns'koho naukovoho tovarystva (Annals of theUkrainian Scientific Society), which was headedby thefamous Ukrai- nian historianMykhailo HrushevsTcyi. Upon graduatingin historyfrom the Universityof Kyivin 1909,Doroshenko was unableto findpedagogical work in Kyiv because of thereactionary and anti-Ukrainiancharacter of the local administration;thus he movedto Katerynoslav(today Dnipropetrovsk) where he became closelyassociated with the UkrainianCossack historianDmytro IavornytsTcyi.He edited a local newspaperand participatedin the local Prosvita(Enlightenment) society for the peasantry. Duringthese same years, Doroshenko came intocontact with the conserva- tivehistorian V'iacheslav LypynsTcyi (Waclaw Lipiñski),who was of Polish This content downloaded from 128.42.202.150 on Tue, 14 Apr 2015 01:02:14 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions DMYTRODOROSHENKO 33 originfrom Right-Bank Ukraine and was elaboratinga theory of how "Ukraini- ans of Polishculture" could remainloyal to an independentUkrainian state based on territoryrather than ethnicity. LypynsTcyi's ideas aboutthe leading roleof theélite (the szlachta [gentry] and theCossack officerclass) in Ukrai- nian historyand the strivingsof thisélite forindependent statehood had a powerfuleffect upon Doroshenko.The two men became fast friendsand remainedin contactwith each otheruntil LypynsTcyi's untimely death from tuberculosisin 1931.5 Duringthe the FirstWorld War Doroshenkowas activein the Union of Citiesand other social and charitable organizations that had a moderateliberal- democraticcharacter. With the coming of therevolution, he was elevatedto highadministrative positions in Kyivand elsewhere, and for a timein 1917 the RussianProvisional Government appointed him Commissar for the Russian- occupiedparts of Galicia and Bukovina- areaspopulated primarily by ethnic Ukrainians.When TUP was transformedinto the moderate Ukrainian Party of Socialist-Federalists,Doroshenko remained loyal to it, but as the revolution grewmore radical, he heldback and began a turnto theright. He filledseveral importantposts in the government of the radical and socialist Ukrainian Central Rada,but he was veryunhappy with the general swing to theleft and, when the Rada and theUkrainian People's Republicestablished by it wereoverthrown byHetmán Pavio SkoropadsTcyiin a conservativecoup, Doroshenko supported the actionand was namedMinister of ForeignAffairs in the Skoropadsicyi regime.His ideologicalmentor LypynsTcyi served as hisambassador to Vienna. Doroshenkorepresented the Ukrainian national tendency in theSkoropadsTcyi government,which had a generallypro-Russian orientation; he had theheavy responsibilityof maintainingsmooth relations with Germany, which protected and supportedthe Hetmán. This positioninvolved the contradictory balancing of pro-Russian,pro-German, and Ukrainiannational interests. In theend the taskproved impossible, and withinless thana year- thatis, shortlybefore SkoropadsTcyiwas overthrownby popular national-democraticforces - Doroshenkoretired from politics. He taughtbriefly at thenew Ukrainian State Universityof Kam'ianets'-Podil's'kyi(1919), andthen went into exile.6 Emigration Duringhis early days in emigration,Doroshenko retained his personal connec- tionswith SkoropadsTcyi (who residedin Berlinon a Germangovernment pension)and LypynsTcyi(who residedin Vienna); he contributedto various publicationssponsored by theHetmanite or monarchistmovement and fora brieftime edited its weeklypaper Ukràins'keslovo, which was publishedin This content downloaded from 128.42.202.150 on Tue, 14 Apr 2015 01:02:14 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 34 PRYMAK Berlinfrom 1921 to 1924.7Throughout the 1920s,he changedhis place of residenceseveral times and oftentravelled back and forthbetween Berlin and Prague.In thelatter city, the Czech government,which had welcomedSlavic refugeesfrom Russia and Ukraine, financially supported the newly established UkrainianFree University with which Doroshenko became closely associated. He also taughtUkrainian history for a whileat CharlesUniversity. During this earlyperiod in emigration,Doroshenko was amazinglyproductive. In theearly 1920s he publisheda whole series of biographiesof importantUkrainian culturalleaders of thenineteenth century; he produceda generalwork on the nationalawakenings among the Slavic peoples; he pennedthe important- indeed,unique - Ohliadukraïns'koï istoriohrafiï (Survey of Ukrainian